October 7, 2024, marked the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel. On that shocking day in 2023, at least 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage. This sparked Israel’s military offensive that has lasted 12 months and running.

Over that time, Israel has battled its way through the Gaza Strip to eliminate Hamas, killing at least 41,000 Gazans, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Israel’s supporters have emphasized the nation’s right to defend itself and its need to rescue hostages.

Others feel the offensive has gone too far, with innocent Gazans who are not affiliated with Hamas caught in the crossfire. Israel has been accused of war crimes. Some groups have even labeled Israel’s actions as “genocide.” South Africa accused Israel of this before the International Court of Justice.

Israel has also exchanged fire with Lebanon-backed Hezbollah, eventually assassinating several of its leaders, and even putting Israeli boots on the ground in Lebanon in early October.

The small Middle East nation additionally exchanged unprecedented direct attacks with longtime archenemy Iran, first in early summer and then in the fall, swelling fears of all-out war. Talk of a nuclear World War III has never been so prevalent.

Through it all, Israel has been able to count on its most faithful ally: America. The U.S. has supported Israel during its ongoing conflicts with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. It has provided a multitude of weapons, and at least $17.9 billion in aid since the October 7 attack.

Yet there have been recent rough patches between the two nations.

U.S. President Joe Biden has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a cease-fire agreement with Hamas, putting public and private pressure on the leader toward that end. In the fall, he warned Israel not to strike Iran’s oil and nuclear facilities. Pro-Palestinian voters have expressed their frustrations with what they see as the current administration’s leniency towards its ally’s actions.

Mr. Biden was asked at an October White House press briefing if he thought that by not engaging in diplomacy, Mr. Netanyahu was trying to influence the November 5 U.S. election in which Republican former President Donald Trump faces Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Whether he is trying to influence the election, I don’t know but I am not counting on that,” Mr. Biden said. “No administration has done more to help Israel than I have.”

At an October 7 remembrance event, Mr. Trump said, “This attack should have rallied the entire world in support of the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland.” He added, “The anti-Jewish has returned even here in America in our streets, our media and our college campuses and within the ranks of the Democrat Party in particular.”

In an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Ms. Harris was asked a question about whether Mr. Netanyahu is considered “a real close ally.” She responded, “The better question is: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.”

As Israel’s warfare on multiple fronts seems to have no end in sight, many wonder if the relationship between it and America can continue forever. Will the U.S. continue to support Israel’s actions? What could sever the special connection between the two nations?

Foundations of a Friendship

How did America and Israel’s bond begin? One place to look is the birth of the Jewish state many decades ago. The relationship between the two countries dates back at least to that time.

It was 1948. World War II had ended three years prior. Adolf Hitler’s extermination campaign had killed six million Jews, with millions of Jewish survivors without a home country. The 1917 Balfour Declaration from Great Britain had promised support of a permanent homeland for the Jews in the land of Palestine. Momentum for the creation of a Jewish state began to build.

The story was recounted in the Washington Post article “Washington’s Battle Over Israel’s Birth”: “The British planned to leave Palestine at midnight on May 14. At that moment, the Jewish Agency, led by David Ben-Gurion, would proclaim the new (and still unnamed) Jewish state.”

Despite opposition, President Harry Truman was determined to support the Jewish people. The paper continued: “The Jewish Agency proposed partitioning Palestine into two parts—one Jewish, one Arab. But the State and Defense departments backed the British plan to turn Palestine over to the United Nations. In March, Truman privately promised Chaim Weizmann, the future president of Israel, that he would support partition—only to learn the next day that the American ambassador to the United Nations had voted for U.N. trusteeship…”

“With only a few hours left until midnight in Tel Aviv, [Clark] Clifford [one of President Truman’s aides] told the Jewish Agency to request immediate recognition of the new state…Truman announced recognition at 6:11 p.m. on May 14—11 minutes after Ben-Gurion’s declaration of independence in Tel Aviv. So rapidly was this done that in the official announcement, the typed words ‘Jewish State’ are crossed out, replaced in Clifford’s handwriting with ‘State of Israel’” (emphasis added).

Being in such close contact, the U.S. and the new Jewish state were able to nearly simultaneously announce the news.

The official press release from Washington stated: “This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel” (The National Archives).

It is interesting to note that, “President Harry Truman, an avid student of the Bible and its prophecies regarding the return of Jews to the Holy Land, was the first world leader to recognize Israel in 1948, a moment some Christians believe began a new prophetic era for events in the Middle East” (USA Today).

Many U.S. voters and politicians consistently point to the Bible as a chief reason for supporting Israel.

An October 2023 New York Times article stated: “Four out of five American evangelicals say that the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1948 and the return there of millions of Jewish people were fulfillments of biblical prophecy, according to a survey conducted in 2017. Almost half of respondents [to a Pew Research Center survey] said the Bible is the primary influence of their opinions on Israel.”

A June 2024 press release by Religion News provided more insight into Americans’ thinking. It said a “study, which simultaneously examines sentiment across mainline, evangelical and Catholic communities, finds that a belief that ‘God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains intact today’ has the greatest impact on support for Israel among a number of potential political, theological, sociological, and demographic factors considered in the study. If a respondent professes this belief, the likelihood that this person strongly supports Israel increases almost threefold (180%).”

For more than 75 years, America and Israel have moved forward as close allies. There have been tensions, but both governments claim today that diplomatic ties are strong. The roots of the bond can indeed be found in Scripture, as well as the relationship’s future.

Who Was Israel?

The word “Israel” appears constantly throughout the scriptures—over 2,500 times! Bible readers can see how important Israel is to God and want to support the nation because of it. Yet modern Israel is not the only nation descended from biblical Israel.

In the Bible, Israel started with a single man who had children. His name was originally Jacob and was changed to Israel by God. He had 12 sons. Israel became a nation in the Old Testament and was led out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land by Moses and Joshua.

Saul and David ruled the ancient kingdom of Israel. Following the death of David’s son Solomon, the nation was divided into two separate kingdoms. One was the House of Judah, which consisted of descendants of Israel’s fourth oldest son, Judah, as well as Benjamin, the youngest son, and Levi, the third oldest son. The other kingdom was called the House of Israel. Over time, the descendants of this latter kingdom lost their identity.

The nation known as Israel today primarily descends from just one of Israel’s children, Judah.

What most do not realize is that America is also a biblical nation descending from the patriarch Israel. Although the word “America” does not appear in Scripture, there is abundant evidence to show the United States has its roots in another of Israel’s offspring.

Judah, however, was never considered lost and is understood to be the Jewish people of today. The Jews never lost sight of their biblical identity—because they generally continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, a sign that identifies God’s people (Ex. 31:13).

America today is filled with descendants of the ancient patriarch Israel who do not know who or where they came from.

America’s Identity

The world has long been suspicious of America’s biblical origins, yet most have been unable to pin them down.

Puritan leader John Winthrop, in a 1630 sermon titled “A Model of Christian Charity,” said that, if the Puritans did justly, loved mercy and remained humble, “We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, ‘may the Lord make it like that of New England.’”

In this last phrase, Winthrop was paraphrasing Genesis 48:20, which states: “The nation Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh’” (Christian Standard Bible).

Little did Winthrop know what he was saying. The verse quoted helps prove the Bible identity of America, which is also tied to the identity of the United Kingdom.

One of Jacob’s sons was Joseph. In Genesis 48, Joseph gave his sons Ephraim and Manasseh separate blessings. Verse 19 states that Manasseh “shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.”

Scour the record of history. There are only two brother nations with a common heritage where one was a massive empire—a “multitude” or “company of nations”—and the other became a single, great nation. These are the United Kingdom with all of its commonwealth countries and the United States.

These blessings came to these nations as the result of a promise God gave to Ephraim and Manasseh’s great-grandfather Abraham. Because of this patriarch’s obedience, God assured him, “in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Gen. 22:17).

That promise was passed down through Abraham’s line, and today’s residents of the U.S. are the unwitting recipients of this special blessing.

Reflecting on all we have learned, it becomes plain why America and Israel have such a strong bond: They are brother nations, one descending from Judah and one from Manasseh. Ancient familial bonds have kept these peoples aligned.

What Can Break the Bond?

The Bible proves why the relationship has endured so much over the years. This same divinely inspired source also has much to say about Israel’s future.

The wars they have fought for over 75 years will come to an end: “Comfort you, comfort you My people, says your God. Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isa. 40:1-2).

This is just one of the tremendously inspiring prophecies in God’s Word about the nation. No more battles with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran or any other enemy. The Israeli people no doubt look forward to this passage’s imminent fulfillment.

A lesser-known prophecy in Zechariah 11 directly addresses Israel’s relationship with the United States. God says: “I took unto Me two staves [staffs]; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock…And I took My staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break My covenant which I had made with all the people…Then I cut asunder Mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (vs. 7, 10, 14).

The staff called Beauty has to do with God’s grace and salvation. The other staff, Bands, fits with the subject at hand. Realize its meaning: America and Israel’s relationship will eventually rupture. But it will only break when God brings Zechariah 11 to pass. Today’s wars, political pressure or personal relationships among elected leaders simply cannot break it! In the meantime, the relationship could strain, but prophecy indicates it will not completely sever until God acts.

Keep reading in Zechariah 11, and notice the context of the split between Israel and Judah. It says this occurs during the reign of a figure known as the “foolish shepherd” (vs. 15-17)—who will be part of a global “beast” system outlined in Revelation 13. When Judah is severed from the rest of Israel, it will be clearly evident that God is responsible.

While the relationship between the U.S. and Judah will rupture for a time, it does not mean God is casting aside either nation. The people of America and Israel have bright, peaceful futures ahead of them in the Kingdom of God. The Bible’s Author has a plan for all mankind—every nation that descended from Israel’s 12 sons, as well as all gentile nations of the world.

Different nations have different paths God uses to work with them to ensure the best possible outcome. But God gives everyone an opportunity. Read II Peter 3:9.

A prophecy in Isaiah 2 illustrates what will happen: “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it” (vs. 2).

Zechariah 12 says specifically of Judah: “The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them” (vs. 7-8). Joel 3 adds, “Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation” (vs. 20).

What about America and all the other tribes? Read Jeremiah 31:1: “At the same time, says the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

The people descended from the tribes of Israel will prosper in God’s coming Kingdom. They will also share beautiful unity, even greater than the America-Israel relationship today. The prophet Ezekiel recorded, “Moreover, you son of man, take you one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand” (37:16-17).

We offer many free resources on rcg.org that explain God’s hand in history and how He works with nations. To learn much more about the origins and prophesied future of America and Israel, as well as the rest of the ancient patriarch’s 12 sons, read America and Britain in Prophecy.